When such disorders as rheumatism, neuralgia, shoulder stiffness, and lumbago occur in the human body, the reaction appears mainly as pain in regions related to the human body surface layer. In some cases this pain is felt directly and in others it is felt indirectly, such as when pressed. The part where this pain is felt is generally called a pain spot. It is well known that the pain can be eased or removed by using finger-pressure therapy, i.e., stimulating the pain spot by pressing with a finger or fingers. As a device for applying stimulation similar to that of finger-pressure therapy to the skin and thereby providing a therapeutic effect for rheumatism, neuralgia, shoulder stiffness, lumbago, etc., there is a conventional stimulator that comprises a stimulating piece—shaped like a short cylinder with both ends rounded—attached to the center of the bonding surface of a circular base-fabric sheet and is used by attaching the stimulator such that the protruding end parts of the stimulating piece are pressed against the skin of the user. However, the therapeutic effect of this stimulator is low because there is little stimulation of the skin; this stimulator is also disadvantageous in that the stimulating piece peels easily from the base-fabric sheet.
In Japanese Utility Model Publication 58-28589, the present inventor proposed a finger-pressure substitutive stimulator that resolves these disadvantages and provides a high therapeutic effect. This stimulator comprises a thin circular stimulating piece that is normally formed of a hard synthetic resin material and attached to the center of a circular base-fabric sheet coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive; three ridges that extend radially from the center are formed on the surface of the stimulating piece. When this stimulator is used by attaching it in such a manner that said ridges are pressed against the skin, the pain spots are constantly stimulated by the ridges and, consequently, the cutaneous sensory nerves and free nerve endings at the skin surface are stimulated. As a result, blood circulation is improved and such ailments as rheumatism, neuralgia, shoulder stiffness, lumbago, and visceral disorders are corrected, thereby easing or removing the pain at related locations.
Explaining in more detail, when an abnormality occurs in the internal or external environment of a living body, a localized reaction appears in a certain range of the skin surface corresponding to the abnormal part. The size of the range depends on the symptoms and the extent of the abnormality, and the reaction location typically has several hypersensitive spots (called “pain spots”), each approximately 3 to 5 mm in size, interspersed therein. When a finger-pressure substitutive stimulator like that described in the aforementioned publication is attached to the pain spot while the skin surface is tensioned thoroughly, the ridges on the surface of the stimulator apply an appropriate degree of stimulation to the free nerve endings in the skin surface layer. This sustained stimulation is reflexively transmitted from the free nerve endings to the related internal environment of the body in an afferent manner. That is, the stimulation is received by the free nerve endings and transmitted to the center of the innervation region thereof. Likewise, the abnormal part of the reacting body is reflexively stimulated and corrected and, thus, healed. In this way, the stimulation applied by said finger-pressure substitutive stimulator against the feeling of pain that appears as a pressure-pain spot in the skin surface layer when localized nerves are excited by a circulation obstruction of blood flow, a bodily fluid, etc., is thought to perform an interceding role that communicates the healing of the localized part where the obstruction is occurring to the nerve center of said part.
However, it is not uncommon for pain points in the human body surface layer caused by such abnormalities as rheumatism, neuralgia, shoulder stiffness, and lumbago to appear densely over a relatively wide range the skin surface. In such a case, with a finger-pressure substitutive stimulator like that described in the aforementioned publication, it is necessary to stick many, e.g., several ten to several hundred, to the skin surface at narrow intervals. Consequently, there are the problems that a very considerable amount of labor is required and the process is time consuming.
In view of these problems, the present inventor conceived a stimulator comprising a large number of said stimulating pieces fastened in a row at roughly fixed intervals to an adhesive sheet shaped like tape with a fixed width, thus making it possible to attach many stimulating pieces to the skin surface at once. With this stimulator, a large number of stimulating pieces can be arranged at relatively uniform intervals on a wide surface area of skin by attaching a plurality of adhesive sheets such that they are parallel and the side edges of adjacent adhesive sheets partially overlap each other and, preferably—in order to increase the therapeutic effect—such that the stimulating pieces of adjacent adhesive sheets are positioned alternately in the lengthwise direction. However, since the adhesive sheets have side edge portions that overlap each other, the interval between stimulating pieces on adjacent adhesive sheets is larger than the interval between stimulating pieces on the same adhesive sheet and it is difficult to obtain a well-balanced arrangement of stimulating pieces. Meanwhile, if the width of the adhesive sheets is narrowed in order to reduce the overlapping side edge portions of adjacent adhesive sheets, a problem will occur in that the adhesive strength with respect to the skin surface will decline such that the adhesive sheet will peel easily or the strength of the force pressing the stimulating pieces against the skin will weaken, resulting in a decrease of the therapeutic effect.
Therefore, as presented in Laid-Open Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-314269, the present inventor proposed a finger-pressure substitutive stimulator in which the outline part of the adhesive sheet—on which a plurality of thin stimulating parts having projections on the surface thereof are attached at roughly uniform intervals—is provided with narrow portions that are recessed toward the middle portion between each respective stimulating piece adjacent to said outline part. Since a succeeding adhesive sheet can be attached such that its stimulating pieces partially fit inside the narrow parts of a previously attached adhesive sheet, this improved stimulator makes it possible to achieve a well-balanced arrangement in which the intervals between the respective stimulating pieces of a plurality of adhesive sheets is smaller and overall more uniform, thus improving the therapeutic effect. Furthermore, peeling from the skin surface and decline of the force pressing against the skin can be prevented because the adhesive sheet secures sufficiently large adhesion surface area at the periphery of each stimulating piece and obtains sufficient adhesive strength with respect to the skin surface.
In Laid-Open Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-314269, the present inventor also proposed a finger-pressure substitutive stimulator in which a plurality of adjacent stimulating pieces are attached to a tape-shaped adhesive sheet are made continuous with one another by flexible or bendable connecting pieces that are belt-shaped, rope-shaped, or thread-shaped. Due to the flexibility or bendability of the connecting pieces, this stimulator can be attached so as to conform well to curved portions of the skin surface.
However, in order to attach them to a wider area of the skin surface, conventional finger-pressure substitutive stimulators—even the improved stimulators described in the aforementioned patent application—require the use of a large number of stimulators and thus require spending much labor and time. Also, when used on curved parts of the skin—particularly the joints of the hands and feed and the fingers—it is difficult to attach conventional stimulators such that the stimulating pieces conform to the curved shape and provide well-balanced, sufficient therapeutic effect; also, some degree of skill is required. Moreover, when the part where the stimulator is attached curves or bends due to exercise of the human body and its curved shape changes, there is the risk that the stimulator cannot accommodate the change and cannot apply a roughly constant stimulation to the skin surface at all times.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to resolve the problems of the prior art and provide a finger-pressure substitutive stimulator that is relatively easy to apply to the skin surface and also can accommodate even when the treatment part of the skin surface has a wide area or is curved or the surface shape of said part changes during exercise, thus applying a roughly constant stimulation to the skin at all times.